Hen pulling out her own feathers??!

[U_Stormcrow]

We will buy the higher protein feed and cut back on scratch (the girls are going to be so mad! Lol they run to us for it every day)

My birds will run with great delight for ANYTHING I throw. They don't disntinguish between scratch (which I basically don't use) and their commercial crumble feed. Both, once airborne, will trigger a veritable stampede.

/edit sorry I can't offer more assistance. Feeding chickens is something I've been educating myself on. Poultry injury and illness is an area where I remain (mostly) ignorant.

 

[carlyfloyd]

@3KillerBs has covered it more than adequately.

The Nutrena Layer feed is fine for what it is, but it is designed to meet dietary minimums of commercial layers in commercial mangement settings, at the lowest possible cost, not for the long term health of the bird. Scratch, typically, is 8-9% protein, which drags protein levels down from that minimum number VERY rapidly. Your BSFL (TY! for linking the nutrition label), if you treat it as a treat (not more than 10% of the diet, by weight, daily) adds about 3.5% to your chicken's daily protein intake (and its a complete protein, that's good). Chickens, particularly dual purpose birds, or birds in holt, or young birds before start of lay, perform better at protein levels between 18-20%. Unfortunately, the BSFL also bring a LOT of fat.

The target fat level for a chicken's diet is about 3.5% +/-. Nutrena's NatureWise 16% Layer is 2.5% fat. adding the 10% (by weight) BSFL to their feed brings that fat level up from 2.5% to 6.0%! That's a level used for fattening CornishX for table, and not much else.

Even so, while feather picking CAN be a sign of protein deficiency (and may be, in your flock, depending on how much scratch they get), the BSFL, plus the self-picking, plus the lack of similar behaviors from other birds leads me to suspect some other cause.

I would, on general principles, recommend a return to just the commercial feed for a 2 week period - no treats - or even a brief substitution with a small bag of all flock or starter-grower to bump up the protein level - or even Nutrena's "feather fixer", which is simply a higher protein (18%) "layer feed" - just in case this is an artifact of the increased protein needs of molt. Maybe it resolves the issue.

It can also be neurological/pure boredom. They look like they have plenty of room, but you could add some clutter.

and yes, definite bug check.

Wow, thank you, that's very helpful. We will try the 2 week as you recommended.

There is a lot more to the yard that keeps them occupied, but I've never thought about boredom! I'll definitely look to adding more things for them

 

[3KillerBs]

Yeah they have a lot of places in the backyard for dirt!

I just took pictures of my hen and can't really see any evidence of mites or lice based on the articles, but I'll keep checking.
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We will buy the higher protein feed and cut back on scratch (the girls are going to be so mad! Lol they run to us for it every day)

I find that I get the same reaction from throwing a handful of pellets into the bedding as I get from throwing scratch.

Apparently, any food that falls from the sky is better than food from the feeder.

If boredom could possibly be a contributing factor you could try giving them a straw bale to rip apart (mine can destroy one rapidly with no special preparation, but cutting one tie can be helpful).

 

[carlyfloyd]

My birds will run with great delight for ANYTHING I throw. They don't disntinguish between scratch (which I basically don't use) and their commercial crumble feed. Both, once airborne, will trigger a veritable stampede.

Haha that's a good point!

 

[carlyfloyd]

I find that I get the same reaction from throwing a handful of pellets into the bedding as I get from throwing scratch.

Apparently, any food that falls from the sky is better than food from the feeder.

If boredom could possibly be a contributing factor you could try giving them a straw bale to rip apart (mine can destroy one rapidly with no special preparation, but cutting one tie can be helpful).

Good idea! They have this whole side of our yard as well, but maybe a straw bale by their coop is a great idea

 

[U_Stormcrow]

...and I know I just said cut the treats, but if your weather is warm, and you happen to enjoy watermelon, get one at the store, eat it yourself, throw them the rind. Its a good source of a lot of trace nutrients, its a boredom buster, and its so full of water it won't imbalance the diet - really its only good as an entertaining electrolyte boost.

And its good use of the part you don't eat.

 

[carlyfloyd]

/edit sorry I can't offer more assistance. Feeding chickens is something I've been educating myself on. Poultry injury and illness is an area where I remain (mostly) ignorant.

I clearly need to educate myself more on feeding. This was a great lesson for me today!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

...and I know I just said cut the treats, but if your weather is warm, and you happen to enjoy watermelon, get one at the store, eat it yourself, throw them the rind. Its a good source of a lot of trace nutrients, its a boredom buster, and its so full of water it won't imbalance the diet - really its only good as an entertaining electrolyte boost.

And its good use of the part you don't eat.

Cucumbers work well for this too. I just tripped over the watermelon I bought for my daughter's visit tomorrow, and was reminded.

 

[carlyfloyd]

...and I know I just said cut the treats, but if your weather is warm, and you happen to enjoy watermelon, get one at the store, eat it yourself, throw them the rind. Its a good source of a lot of trace nutrients, its a boredom buster, and its so full of water it won't imbalance the diet - really its only good as an entertaining electrolyte boost.

And its good use of the part you don't eat.

Oh yeah they are fiends for watermelon!!! We never throw away any rind. I'll see if we have any at the store next time I go! Maybe she'll forget all about her feathers, at least for a few minutes

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I clearly need to educate myself more on feeding. This was a great lesson for me today!

Troll the feed forum, a couple of names will come up again and again, as the community's most respected sources - but a tiny bit of basic information is all most people will ever need. Which is why we seemingly repeat ourselves several times daily for a couple of the more common questions.